On the 15th September 2000, an open letter was sent to the Commissioner
ofPolice Chihuri from the Karoi Community en masse (see copy below) which
hechose to ignore. Since this letter went out the Karoi farmers
havesuffered the following abuse:-

18.09.00CHIUWA
FARM - DutoitThe guard was chased from his home (between irrigated
lands & borehole) bywar vets and told that everything that side belongs
to them. Labour toldtoevacuate compounds and move into the barns as the
compound now belongs tothem. Labour
refused.

18.09.00YAWANDA FARM - BB Johnson3 x
poachers that were arrested by farm guards and fined have had their.303
weapons actually returned to them by the police! Barnabus Panadengu(pseudo
war vet) stated that he had hunting rights to the farms and if theguards
from Yawanda go to Laughing Hills they will be killed. Poaching isrife on
ALL the farms in Karoi right now, animals are being slaughtered bypoachers
using spears, snares, guns and packs of dogs. The squatterscannot actually
eat one tenth of the dead beasts. Zebra, which they don'teat at all are left
in snares.

18.09.00Report that Magunje Rural
Councillors had met and resolved that they wouldtake over LAUGHING HILLS
FARM , LANLORY FARM, ANSDELL FARM and PEVERILPLACE (See assault report -
M.Roper) They decided to "just take the farms"due to the fact that the rains
are almost upon us...

18.09.00BAOBAB FARM - N
MostertA group of squatters want the labour out of their accommodation -
theywere visited by a negotiating team - situation "sort of
resolved".

18.09.00GRAND PARADE - P StidolphWar
Vets stopped ridging and 3 foremen were assaulted. The labour reactedand
chased the squatters. Two squatters were citizen arrested due to thefact
that the police took 3 hours to react and even then only reacted whenthey
were threatened with the likelihood that a war vet being killed couldnot be
ruled out. The labour who made the citizens arrest have now beencharged with
assault!

19.09.00NASSAU RANCH - D PennyWork
stoppage. The threat to stop work on this farm is daily occurrenceandthe
situation is reported to Mabundu each time. He has said that the landbelongs
to the people and should farmers wish to farm they must getpermission
!

20.09.00LANLORY - Flight3 foremen singled out
and verbally abused for making so called falsereports. Flight was also
verbally abused. Reported - no police
reaction.

20.09.00CHIUWA FARM - DutoitVisited by
senior war vets and the police. Dutoit told that he has now torequest
permission to farm on certain lands. Situation obviouslyunresolved. Du Toits
farm has deliberately been burnt out a few weekendspreviously. Whilst the
fire was being attended to by farmer and labour,thereaped maize stack
was set on fire. Reported No investigation by police
todate.

20.09.00GLENELLEN FARM -
SaywoodSquatters tried to stop ridging but were chased off by labour. Very
neartocivil strife breaking out.

20.09NASSAU
- D Penny4 war vets from Chinhoyi office arrived and verbally abused Penny.
Theywere drunk and disorderly driving a beige Mazda first three digits
being451... They stopped irrigation on prepared lands and were to return for
ameeting with Penny and the labour.

23.09.00HELWIN FARM -
SheppardGame scouts came into contact with 10 poachers who tried to ambush
them.One war vet threw a spear at a guard. The 2nd guard fired a shot.
Thepoachers had 18 dogs with them and the guards killed 2 and wounded
1.Report made to ZRP. ( It must be noted that Mabunda has stopped
thepresence of the National Parks game scouts being deployed in the
area.)

23.09.00CHIUWA FARM - DutoitFarmer
stopped from unloading his irrigation pipes - war vets told themthat the
lands were theirs. War vet GAPA MASUNDA commandeered a trailer,the pipes
rolled off the trailer and a fight then broke out. 4 pipesdamaged - Black
Boots (Support Unit from Makuti) arrived, situationtemporarily resolved.
Police investigated pipes being broken. War vetsseenstealing maize and
on being asked by the guard what they were doing saidthat it was none of his
business and swore at him and told him to getlost.Another has since been
arrested for stealing maize.

25.09.00LANLORY FARM -
A FlightFarmer stopped on road on 21st and verbally abused badly by war
vets. Hewas told that he would be beaten for calling the police. JEFRED
MUKWERERE(Secretary for District Security) from the war vets office arrived
tospeakwith them - no war vets around at the time so a message left for
them tocome to the Karoi office. Friday farmer abused again. Masses from
thecommunal lands moved in. (+- 70) and deliberately stared fishing
onstockeddams. Saturday 2 war vets arrived and agreed that if farmer
supplieswatercart and transport they will move to original area that they
were onin March. They intend to start planting maize. They asked farmer for
jobsas no money left! Farmer asked to grind maize for them. They refuse
tomoveuntil government give them land and they are ready to start
planting NOWdue to approaching rains.

26.09.00HELWYN
FARM - G ShepperdPoaching rife - poachers had dogs. One poacher
tried to spear the guardbutthe other guard fired a shot into the air.
One guard killed two dogs andwounded another. Snares are being recovered
daily. If nothing is done thefuture of wildlife in this country is finished.
Reported to police but noattempts made to stop the rampant
killing.

26.09.99BUFFALO DOWNS - W
NelInspector Mabunda and war vets arrived on the farm and threatened
andabused farmer and said that the farmer was inciting
war.

26.09.00ASSAULT REPORT ON M ROPER - PEVERILL
PLACE

The owner of Peveril Farm, Karoi, Marshall Roper, was
severely injured bywar vets this morning. A group of 12 war vets attempted
to disrupt theplanting of tobacco on the farm. Mr Roper and the farm workers
objected tothe stoppage and a war vet started pushing Roper around. Warvet
Peter thenhit Mr Roper across the face with an open hand. War vet, William
thenstepped forward and slashed Mr Roper across the bridge of his nose
withamachete. Mr Roper collapsed to the ground and in fear of his life,
fired 2shots in the air to disperse the war vets. ZRP from Karoi responded
andSupport Unit was deployed. Mr Roper lost a significant amount of blood
butis in a stable condition in a Harare hospital. Surgeons have attended
tohis severe wounds (See picture attachment) Neighbouring farmers
withworkers made citizens arrest of 4 war vets. The war vets were
takenimmediately to the Police station in Karoi who them wanted to charge
thefarmers with assault. Because of the growing number of protesters
outsidethe police station the farmers were released. It is now understood
that 3farm workers have been arrested in connection with the incident and it
isexpected that all illegal occupiers will be evicted from Peveril
Farm.

The Karoi Community angered by the continuing and blatant
lawlessness intheir district, converged on the Karoi police Station at
12.00pm topeacefully demonstrate their discontent. Approximately 60 farmers
40business men and women hundreds of workers from the business district
andresidents of Chikangwe Township and Karoi Village along with 2000 or
sofarm workers, united to denounce the disregard for law and
order.DistrictPolice Officer for the Karoi District, Supt. Mabunda, came
under personalattack for his role in supporting lawless activity in the area
under hisjurisdiction. Warvet JEFRED MUKWERERE (Secretary for District
Securityandwho is on five charges for assault) stood by Mabundas side
and tried torecord the names of the farmers present and who from the crowd
askedquestions. A cell phone communication was received that the
deputyCommissioner of Police Mpufu had ordered the support unit to use tear
gasand arrest the demonstrators. Before this happened the crowd dispersed
butthreatened to continue with mass demonstrations if positive steps are
nottaken to restore law and order.

For the record it must be
remembered that Supereintendant Mabunda wasposted as District Police office
late in 1999. He made it very clear tothefarmers association that he had
been sent to Karoi for two reasons. As theofficial land commissioner for
Zanu PF he had instructions to redistributethe farm land and secondly to
ensure a Zanu Pf victory no matter what ittook. Countless assaults, verbal
abuse, threats and gross intimidationensued pre election. No report books
were available in the police stationfor a four week period and reports if
taken were written on scraps ofpaper. Very few charges were laid of the
perpetrators of the violence.Mostincidents were directly incited by
Mabunda and his hench men. Mabunda hasbeen quoted on numerous occasions of
saying ...quote" my boys from thebush..." It also must be noted that Mabunda
was in command of theCommissioner of Police, Chihuri during the "liberation
struggle".

The following facts were presented to the Provincial Police
Officer inJune 1999 for consideration of moving Mabunda from Karoi. These
factsweresent to the Commissioner of police, Chihuri. No action was
taken;-

Whenever Mabunda meets with the warvets they either salute him or
cometoattention. Dispol has been seen to salute Rex Jesus....who is in
charge ofwho?

War Vets from various areas have refused to communicate
with anyone butDispol - a clear case of showing that he is totally in charge
of the WarVets.

When a work stoppage was reported to Dispol, he
slammed the door of hisoffice reporting the matter and would not speak to
anyone about thesituation. Only after considerable damage to the farm
operation had beendone was he prepared to act and send a police detail
out.

A number of assault cases have been reported at the charge office
and todate no Criminal Record has been opened. Reports from the Police are
thatover 40 RRB's involving assaults have been cancelled. The only
timeassaultcharges have been followed through is when two commercial
farmers werebeaten and the press was involved. To date no investigation has
beencarried out with respect to the assault charges made by another
twofarmersand they have now been threatened that if they do not withdraw
theircharges they will be killed by trained killers.

Dispol was
advised that if he should defuse Rex Jesus and attend to him ashe was
potentially a very dangerous man and capable of carrying outmurder.No
action or investigation was carried out and murders were carried out
inKariba.

When 3 people were arrested in Kariba, Dispol went to
Kariba the next dayand had them released.....the following day the same 3
people werearrestedfor murder.

Many police have told us that
"their hands are tied and that they are notallowed to carry out normal
Police duties because we are under thecommandof
Mabunda........

When the Police were told by Dispol to attend to a
farmers beating, theyarrived at the scene 2 hours late. After enquiring why,
it was learnt fromthe Police details that their instruction was that they go
via Magunje anddelay their arrival at the scene as long as
possible.

During a very violent scene, Dispol said on 2 occasions that he
wouldattend in 15 minutes to the scene. This was never done and
consequentlymajor damage was carried out to property.

Due to
intimidation, labour have been unwilling to report cases ofassault.In
these situations reports have been made directly to Dispol. Noinvestigation
have been followed up. It is very apparent that Dispol hashad no intention
of carrying out the law.

Despite being aware that all weapons found in a
farmers house, during atotally unacceptable search ,were licensed, Dispol
proceeded to state toZTV that an arms cache had been found.

Dispol,
who is Chairman of the committee, is aware that money amounting to$200
000.00 has been asked for in order to get farmers back on their
farmsfarming. He has chosen to ignore this and make no investigation or
evenlisten to the facts.

Dispol stood by and watched as War Vets
broke ceilings during a weaponssearch in a farmers home.

No receipt
was given to a farmer for licensed weapons taken after a searchof a farmers
house.

It is very clear that in all cases the War Vets side of all
situation hasbeen favoured by Dispol and that he has a very apparent hate
for farmers.

In all cases the Karoi Police have been very reluctant to
assist if Dispolhas been in the Police station. Whenever he is not there,
there is adefinite change in attitude by the police and they are willing to
carryouttheir duties.

In conclusion, be aware of the potentially
volatile situation that couldresult if Dispol is allowed to remain in this
area. It is very clear thathe is intent on inflicting as much discomfort on
the commercial andbusiness sector as possible in order to gain favour of the
war Vets and ZPYouth. He is abetting the spread of violence by criminal
elements and inalmost all cases is unwilling to react to normal cases where
law and orderis breached.

If he is not moved there is a very possible
danger that the farmers andbusinesses in the area will be forced to suspend
operations and evacuatetheir premises in order to safe guard their
lives.

The following letter is a copy of the open letter sent to the
Commissionerof Police, Zimbabwe, Commissioner Chihuri from the community of
Karoi andis self explanatory.The purpose of the letter is to ensure that
there isno misunderstanding and that the Karoi Community will not except
anythingless than what it is enshrined in the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
TheLetterhas been signed by over 1000 signatures and has been hand
delivered to theCommissioner.

Please copy
and forward this letter to all your contacts and addresses aswe, the
community of Karoi, wish it to be known that the ball is now
intheCommissioners court as the responsible
authority.

The community of Karoi hereby respectfully requests you to ensure
that, asfrom today law and order will be properly and legally upheld
andmaintained. You and the Police force are charged with this duty in
termsof the Constitution of Zimbabwe as well as the duty of preserving
internalsecurity. You, and members of the police force, on taking office,
sweartocarry our your duty without fear or favour. It is incumbent upon
you tofulfil that role. Continued failure to maintain law and order
tarnishesthe reputation off the police force, something we feel sure you
wish toprevent.

Each and every citizen is entitled to have his or her
rights protected bythe police as guaranteed in our constitution. This is a
fundamentalright.By ignoring its duty and failing to take steps to
maintain law and order,you and your force are aiding and abetting the
violation of the rule oflaw. We require the rule of law to be complied with
at all times and inall circumstances.

Continual work stoppages,
assaults, intimidating tactics, and blatantunwillingness by the police to
react to potentially violent situations,hasprompted this open letter to
be written.

The District Police Officer, Superintendent Mabunda, has over
the last sixmonths acted in a manner which is counter productive and has
virtuallyignored any directives or policy statements issued by your good
officesorby Government. Details of these issues have been on numerous
occasionsdocumented and presented to yourself for consideration and for
appropriateaction to be taken through the recognised chain of
command.

Further to this, all past agreements have been broken, ignored,
underminedand challenged by the war veterans and the local police
leadership. Theyobviously hold the opinion that agreements made are only for
theirbenefitand well-being and may be changed by them to suit only
themselves as andwhen they feel like it, without regard for the third party
or thecommunityat large. In this respect we stress that the local police
leadership notonly fails to maintain law and order or to obey directives or
policestatements from you and Government but also has an attitude which
bringsthe police force into disrepute.

Page 2

It is because of
this unacceptable scenario and total disregard fornegotiated agreements that
we, the community of Karoi, including farmers,farm labourers, business
persons, workers and residents will forthwithhaveto ensure that the Laws
of the Country are complied with and upheld,preferably with your
co-operation and assistance.

Thus, the community of Karoi will in
particular ensure that :-

Human rights are recognised and protected in
every instance.The police maintain Law and order as set out in the
constitutionirrespective of the party policies. We quote that the police
role is"topreserve the internal security of and maintain law and order"
in thecountry.Every report made to the police station is correctly and
efficiently dealtwith in a proper and professional manner as stated in the
police charter.No person or political party is above the law.Assets,
moveable and immovable, are protected under all circumstances.Investments,
such as land preparation and water reticulation schemes areutilised by the
investor fully and not interfered with under anycircumstances.No work
stoppages or interference, which put these investments at risk,will
occur.Persons in breach of the law be arrested and prosecuted accordingly.
Ifnecessary the people of this community will institute citizen's arrests
ifno reaction is taken by the regulating authority in due time.The
judicial system is utilised to take such action as may be necessaryagainst
any policeman/woman, irrespective of rank, who refuses or fails tocarry our
his/her legal and lawful obligation or duty to this community.

This
letter is written, as we are most anxious to avert the following:-

Civil
strife breaking out between farm labour forces and war veterans. Thegrowing
concern amongst farm labourers that their livelihoods and jobs arein
jeopardy has sparked potentially violent clashes between the parties.Further
commercial businesses closing.Further loss of production in the forthcoming
crop.Further labour redundancies.

Page 3

We wish it to be
known that we acknowledge and accept that there should bea more equitable
distribution of agricultural land. This should beeffected through an
organised and regulated system as laid out in the 1998Donors
Conference.

This letter is written without reservation and will be
forwarded torelevant sources and interested parties in order that our
concerns beheardand addressed.

We exhort you and the local police
authority immediately and at all timesto adhere to the rule of law, maintain
law and order, prevent securityfromdeteriorating and protect human
rights. The consequences which may flowfrom your failure to do so will be
solely your responsibility.

In concluding we express the sincere hope
that you will give seriousconsideration to what has been written and will
attend to our request as amatter of urgency. A written reply by return
setting out your intentionsand the steps you intend taking to restore and
maintain law and order willoblige.

A day is a long time in politics. We are certainly learning the truth
behind that adage. Living in Zimbabwe is like riding a huge roller coaster; we
only realize the pace at which we are moving when we look down or at the rails
under the car. The ups and downs we can only take by closing our eyes and
holding on with all our strength, sometimes its scary, sometimes its
exhilarating, it's never boring.

The detailed background to the recent
grenade attack on the MDC office in Harare makes interesting reading. It all
started some months ago when a young police officer working in the Police
Protection Unit (provides close protection to dignitaries and is a top unit) by
the name of Nkomo (no relation to the late vice President) was given leave from
his duties by the Police Commissioner. He was instructed to join the MDC youth
organisation and to feed information back to the Police. He was also given a
list of 12 MDC officials at whose homes he was instructed to plant weapons - the
latter were drawn from the Police ordinance stores in Harare and issued to him
for this purpose.

At the same time that this exercise was under way in
Harare, a similar exercise was launched in Bulawayo - this time it was arms
caches on farms with documents linking them to the MDC. The people responsible
for the operation handed information on this exercise to us and this information
was made known to the press about 10 days ago. We can only assume that this
exercise (which seems to have been abandoned when it was made public) can only
be linked to the similar exercise then taking place in Harare.

The plan
was to bomb the MDC office in Harare and then conduct searches at the targeted
homes in Harare where Nkomo had planted the weapons. The grenade attack was
carried out with the assistance of a Police land rover and the following night
the homes of all the targeted MDC officials were raided by Police/CIO. The only
things they found was a hand held radio used in convoys carrying MDC leaders to
meetings and an air gun that you can buy across the counter in a store. What
happened to the arms Nkomo was supposed to plant is not known, it may be that
Nkomo got cold feet in the same way as the CIO people who were supposed to
assassinate the editor of the Daily News in Harare.

The home raids were
followed by raids on the MDC offices to get access to documents and computer
records as well as "arms of war". What they expected in respect to the latter is
not known but they only obtained a pile of waste paper and no sensitive
documents or computer files. The presence of the media, our lawyers and
officials from MDC during this raid was critical, as we are quite sure they
would have "found" all sorts of stuff if they had not had the world watching. So
now the Minister (who was expecting all sorts of juicy stuff) ends up making a
statement in the House about "subversive documents" and "arms of war" and
military communications equipment. He also went on to say that the attack was
carried out by a member of the MDC (true) and was an inside job (not true). In
fact we have documentary proof that Nkomo is a serving member of the Police and
we have all the evidence we need to support the above story which is now part of
a civil action against the government together with a claim for
damages.

What would have followed the "discovery" of the arms caches and
the MDC documents we can only speculate, but we would have expected the Police
to detain MDC people and members of the national leadership and perhaps try to
ban the MDC itself. It would have also provided the government with valuable
propaganda, which they would have used on a global scale to discredit the
opposition. All they ended up with was a dirty damp squib and a very discredited
Minister of Home Affairs whose name is also Nkomo.

At the same as this
was going on, Zanu PF again had to go through a three-week period of discomfort
in Parliament. where the battle of wits goes on. And it's turned out to be a
daily nightmare for the government. At every turn they are attacked by
well-informed and briefed opposition members of Parliament. In one incident on
Tuesday last all 57 MDC Members wore red handkerchiefs to symbolize the "Red
Card" campaign that is so hated here. When the Speaker addressed one Member who
wanted to speak as "the Hon member with a red handkerchief" all sitting
opposition Members stood up and waved their red banners. It's not without humor
- but that was lost on the Speaker who is aging by the minute.

To
compound their problems the land program is in all kinds of trouble throughout
the country. Its difficult to maintain an exercise of intimidation on such a
scale for months on end and the people they have been using are running out of
steam. Ordinary Zimbabweans are not taking up the offers of "free" land and are
deeply suspicious of these offers of resettlement. In one case peasants were
offered all sorts of inducements to take up resettlement opportunities on
commercial farms. They were promised cattle, fertilizer and seed and other
assistance. They replied - give us those things now and we will consider moving.
Peasants may be poor but they are not dumb!

Then there is the law and the
Courts. Our Justice system did us proud this week and in one hearing in Chambers
the Judges invalidated the eviction notices served on farmers who were refusing
to leave their land - this knocks down all the legal notices issued in the past
year and puts the government back to square one. If in the next few months the
Presidential Powers Act is declared ultra vires the constitution, then that
completes the circle, they are back at the start on the land issue from a legal
point of view.

On Friday, at a hearing in front of the full bench of the
Supreme Court, a local company "Capital Radio" was given a license to establish
an independent radio station. They expect to be operational in three weeks and
this will end the monopoly on radio and TV that the government has held for a
century. This has profound implications for us as a nation and for the MDC as it
seeks to change the government. Jonathan Moyo is now playing catch up.

On
our side we plan a major rally on Saturday at Rufaro Stadium to celebrate MDC's
birthday (we are one year old this month) and to launch a campaign to persuade
Mugabe to retire immediately and call for fresh presidential elections within 90
days. Nothing else will rescue us from the economic and political collapse that
is now imminent.

The country looks magnificent; the knob thorns are in
full blossom as are many other exotic and indigenous trees. The new leaves on
the msasa and mountain acacia trees are in their full glory - reds and greens
and burgundy. A new season is promised by Mother Nature, perhaps this time,
there is more on offer than just flowers and rain and plantings. Perhaps a new
start altogether.

From: JK (name abbreviated in this copy)To: Trevor Ncube (The
Independent)Sent: Friday, September 22, 2000 2:36 PMSubject:
President Mugabe and his arrogance.

Dear
Editor,

I feel that I must relate an incident which I observed last Friday the 15
th September. I was returning from Harare when The Presidential Cavalcade went
past at about 5 pm. The procession was travelling along the Bulawayo road
towards Norton, meaning that the president was going to his farm in Norton for
the weekend. The cavalcade consisted of at least 6 motorbikes, 4 Mercedes Benz
cars, 2 Landcruisers with armed soldiers, and an ambulance.

I followed behind the convoy. Near the Kuwadzana turnoff, one of the
vehicles flattened a woman, she was seriously hurt if not dead. One of the
outriders also fell off his motorbike at great speed and was lying across the
new road about 100 metres from where he fell off.

What absolutely disgusted me was that Mugabe did not even hesitate to see
what the condition of the injured people was. The convoy proceeded as if nothing
had happened. Is this the behaviour of a leader who cares even a little bit
about the people who have placed him in such a high office?

Was he so anxious to get home that he could not even bother to ascertain
the condition of Two injured people? Even a dog deserves a bit more
respect.This exposes the terrible fear Mugabe has for his own
people.

It was the dangerous driving of his convoy which caused these people to get
killed or maimed!

When I and my workers observed this behaviour we could feel nothing but
disgust and revulsion for such a person. Is he above the law? where is his
compassion?

To you Mugabe I say SHAME ON YOU!

When you (as we all will) go to meet your maker you will be called to
account for all the terrible things you have done to humanity and you will
realise that you are not a God or a special person. You are a mortal like the
rest of us, and you have abused your position of power and you will be called to
book!